Missing Lakeland Electric Bills: Drop Penalties for a Month

Lakeland Electric is a service company. It provides power to 121,000 customers in and around Lakeland.If Lakeland Electric does not take care, it will further its reputation as a self-serving company.

Lakeland Electric is a service company. It provides power to 121,000 customers in and around Lakeland.If Lakeland Electric does not take care, it will further its reputation as a self-serving company.This is an opportunity for the city-owned utility to do right by residents and businesses. They depend on the company and provide income that swells the city coffers. The opportunity results from a mystery: Reports have come in about March electric bills not being received or having been burned partially.A solution that is simple, clear and compassionate begs Lakeland Electric to put itself in a good light.The utility should declare that it will assess no penalties for missed or late payments in the March billing period, whose payment deadline is April 11.No shut-offs, no late fees, no hassles — just put the customers first.Most of those unable to pay will still be unable to pay in April. Catch up with them then.It's not as if the city is sure what happened.Last week, it first said that some 12,000 bills burned in a fire resulting from the wreck of a semitrailer carrying mail on Interstate 75 near Tampa, reported The Ledger's John Chambliss in an article Friday.

CONFUSIONAs it turns out, the city added two plus two and got three.Friday, after learning that neither the bills nor any first-class mail was on the truck that burned, city officials were still trying to make sense of the missing and burned bills, Lakeland Electric Deputy Manager Alan Shaffer told Chambliss for an article Saturday.Beyond the burned bills, some East Lakeland customers have not received bills."Between those two things, something happened out there," Shaffer said. "We're still trying to figure out what the answer is."It may have been an erroneous assumption, but what else happened?" Shaffer asked of the crash on I-75. "We're not aware of any other postal-truck burnings."When Lakeland Electric first thought the bills had been in the truck fire, it said late fees would be assessed.After it learned otherwise, and Shaffer answered questions from city commissioners during an agenda-study meeting Friday, he said late fees will not be assessed.However, asked by Commissioner Justin Troller, "Are we going to make sure people aren't dinged for two late payments?" Shaffer said he wants to avoid an issue with customers, and the customer service department will speak with customers.The intention may be good but the action proposed is nebulous.Clarity is required.Keep it simple and kind: Put a one-month moratorium on Lakeland Electric bill-paying penalties.